Page 65 of The Alpha's Fated Bond

There is silence from behind me now. Nathan is no longer gasping, and Sophia is quiet. I want to turn around and see what’s happening, but I can’t take my eyes off Julia. One misstep, and I could put a lot of lives in danger.

“Why did you leave me there?” Julia’s expression is hard. “Did you know that I was captured? Did you care?”

My jaw is set. It’s almost as if my previous words did not register on her.

“Why are you here?” I ask calmly. “Shouldn’t you have gone running back to Karina?”

Julia’s eyes turn into slits. “I heard something very interesting in my time with the Red Rock wolves. Not only was their Alpha murdered, but a female from their pack went missing, the same female the Alpha’s son had been courting. Imagine my surprise when I learned that the woman in question was the bartender you were so obsessed with. The cage fighter you helped escape.”

I study her, not surprised that Julia has managed to gather this much information. But I neither confirm nor contradict her words. This seems to irritate her.

“Well?”

I just shrug. “Why are you here?”

“I want to see her with my own eyes. Don’t take me for a fool, Alex. It’s hardly a coincidence that the female disappeared the same time you did. I wondered why you were interested in someone so unremarkable and plain. So, what is it? You found the Silver Wolf and decided to stab Karina in the back? You thought you could use the powers of the Silver Wolf?”

I expected that Julia would figure out Sophia’s identity, so her words don’t really take me by surprise. However, I can see the soldiers and the nannies standing a short distance behind Julia. They are listening to every word. This is complicating things. The very situation I had been trying to prevent from happening is now taking place.

“Just what are you planning to do, Julia?” I finally ask.

“I’m here to take the Silver Wolf with me.” Julia’s upper lip curls. “Unlike you, I understand loyalty.”

A furious laugh leaves my lips. “Loyalty? Does Karina expect loyalty from me? After what she has put me and my people through?”

Julia’s expression twists, and she takes a step forward. “You should be grateful to her. She let you live. She could have killed you, but she’s been nothing but benevolent toward you. You should be grateful that she’s letting you mate someone as powerful and beautiful—”

“Mate you? I would rather die first,” I spit out. “You’re a shriveled, old hag who’s bordering on insanity. The mere thought of being with you makes me sick to my stomach. Don’t think for a second that I would ever touch you.”

Julia’s face turns red. While I have rejected her plenty of times, I’ve never done so publicly. Some of my pack members shout out in agreement, and her humiliation intensifies.

I hear a quiet sound from behind me as the healer arrives and she whispers, “What are you doing to him?”

She must be talking to Sophia. I don’t have to look over my shoulder to know that my mate is healing Nathan.

“How is this possible?” the healer breathes.

However, when Julia speaks, my attention is drawn back to her. “Whatever you think you feel about me is irrelevant. Karina has promised you to me. It doesn’t matter whether you become my mate by choice or not. You will still serve me in bed whenever I please, and once I am your mate, this pack will be mine, and you will be reduced to what you always should have been: a sex slave!”

Roars of anger rise around me, but I am unphased. Julia has said this to me plenty of times before.

“I will kill you before I ever touch you,” I tell her calmly. “Besides, I already have a fated mate. Why would I even consider something like you?”

This news takes Julia by surprise. “A fated mate?” She stares at me, shocked. “You’re lying.”

I shrug. “I have no reason to lie. My fated mate is the woman I brought with me from the South. And according to Alliance rules, she belongs by my side. So, even Karina cannot take her from me.”

It doesn’t take long for Julia to understand what I’m saying. Fury and rage erupt all over her face. “Are you implying that the Silver Wolf is your fated mate?!”

I simply smile at her.

“You’re lying!”

The frustrated look in her eyes is satisfying, to say the least. She takes a few steps toward me, her claws unsheathed. “You’re fucking lying! You belong to me! How dare you—”

She’s mere inches from me now, her hand lifted as if to slash my face.

“That’s far enough,” comes a cold voice from behind me, and Julia is forced back.

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